On May 22, President Sun Hongbin met with a delegation from the Association of African Private Universities at Pengfei Auditorium in Mingxiang Campus. The delegation was led by Zhang Na, head of the delegation, and included Hamidou Hamadou, President of the Association of African Private Universities and President of Niger Information Technology University, as well as Zhao Xiping, President of the Shanxi Society of World Economics.

Sun Hongbin extended a warm welcome to the visiting delegation and provided a brief introduction to the university’s history, distinctive features, talent cultivation, discipline development, and internationalization efforts. He emphasized that the university’s century-long pursuit of education aligns closely with Africa’s thirst for knowledge and its aspirations for talent development. The university will fully implement the major initiative of the “China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development” proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue in Johannesburg. Leveraging the university’s high-quality teaching resources and research strengths, it will further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with African universities in areas such as industry-education integration mechanisms and specialized discipline alignment. The university is committed to enhancing exchanges and collaboration with African institutions, writing a new chapter in China-Africa friendship, and allowing the seeds of educational cooperation to take root and flourish in both China and Africa.

Zhang Na and Hamidou Hamadou expressed their gratitude for the warm reception and introduced the Association of African Private Universities and its member universities. They noted that the long-standing friendship between China and Africa has seen deepening cooperation across various fields, with higher education collaboration becoming a vital component. The member institutions of the association share high compatibility in disciplines with the university, presenting significant potential for cooperation. This visit has strengthened mutual understanding, built friendships, and laid a solid foundation for practical collaboration. Upon returning, they will refine and implement cooperation plans to ensure early and fruitful results.

Vice President Sang Shengbo attended the meeting and chaired the discussion. Also present were presidents from Niger Public Medical University, Burkina Faso University of Technology, Guinea Fuyou University, and Chad Social Health University of Technology, as well as the vice president of Côte d'Ivoire Huicai Agricultural University. Representatives from our university’s International Cooperation Division, College of Electronic Information Engineering, College of Computer Science and Technology (College of Data Science), College of Economics and Management, School of Physical Education and Health Engineering, and College of Artificial Intelligence also participated in the meeting and discussion.